The Love Champion

NYC singer Ian Isiah's The Love Champion features beats that would turn Tricky Stewart's head, guest spots from Le1f and Mykki Blanco, and charismatic vocals drowned in AutoTune. Backed by producers like Sinjin Hawke, Brenmar, and ShyGuy, it's hard not to see parallels with Kelela's Cut 4 Me.

Underground electronic music artists used to admire the futuristic finesse of modern R&B from a distance, making endless bootleg edits of tracks to fit into their DJ sets. More and more, though, they're getting in on the game themselves. Hotly-tipped NYC label UNO and heretofore unknown singer Ian Isiah are the next entrants, with a mixtape full of beats that'd turn Tricky Stewart's head and charismatic vocals drowned in AutoTune. Backed up by a host of well-loved producers like Sinjin Hawke, Brenmar, and ShyGuy, it's hard not to see parallels with Kelela's Cut 4 Me. Isiah is another relatively new singer finding his personality in music cribbed from a thriving underground he's long been associated with (in this case, loosely, NYC's GHE20 G0THIK crew). Lacking Kelela's smouldering personality and her clever songwriting, Isiah instead resorts to a loving pastiche of artists like The-Dream and Trey Songz—which, when it works, is hard to deny.

The first we heard from Isiah was April's stark ballad "Mindfuck", but that one didn't predict the brittle AutoTune-core of The Love Champion. Subtlety evidently isn't part of Isiah's vocabulary, and it's difficult to gauge how self-aware he is of his own absurdity. Chanting "pop that juicy on me" like a mantra on "Sweat", he sounds too earnest to be joking. Thankfully for him, that earnestness ends up his saving grace—his honey-hued voice manages to elevate most of his cringe-worthy phrases. When he croons "trippin on the x/ makin' sweet sex" over a near-silent backdrop on "Private Party", it's more sensual than its blunt language should be able to get across. But then not even he can save the awful "Dynamite", a mess of a song centred around trills of "booty, booty/ you a cutie" that feel like they were flown in from the bridge of a different track.

Isiah finds a sweet spot with AutoTune on Love Champion that's gently experimental without descending into Lil Wayne-esque blubbery, though it could still get on your nerves if you're not one for its inhuman tones. The way he cascades and layers his vocals on tracks like "Showtime" or the stunning ballad "So High" is surprisingly bewitching, like an art in itself. Not to mention that he's a capable singer on his own, mining an entirely different vibe than Future's warbly emo-rap—but like that rapper and his hordes of imitators, the plugin also gives those ballads an alien, almost otherworldly tin. His battle cry "I just wanna be high with you" sounds almost transcendent here.

As much as Isiah relies on his trusty studio helper, however, The Love Champion leans even harder on his cast of producer friends, who offer up a gently progressive selection of beats that sway and dip perfectly with his voice. Sometimes it's hard to tell to who's supposed to be the star—more often than not he's given a prime amount of space for his elaborate countermelodies, but a slinky Sinjin Hawke percussion drop or Brenmar break is never that far behind. UNO's secret weapon Gobby even shows up on the gorgeously gossamer title track, one of the relentlessly weird producer's prettiest productions.

It's the lesser-known Shy Guy who stands out above the rest. His "That Body" struts with all the easy gliding bombast of a Just Blaze track, has Isiah's most effortless vocals and is even blessed with an unusually effusive (albeit brief) Mykki Blanco verse. The rapper's throaty voice cuts right through Isiah's computerized croon, and with guest spots from him and Le1f, you can tell that Isiah keeps interesting company. His own art still seems content to revel in precedent rather than break down boundaries, however. With endearing but bordering-on-self-parody lyrics, lush production, and a high-pitched voice, Isiah lives in the shadow of The-Dream much like The-Dream lives in the shadow of R. Kelly. But unlike our beloved Terius, Isiah has yet to find his own voice. If nothing else Love Champion, marks a solid starting point rather a true takeoff.